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Civic groups say no let-up on Zim rights
abuses

Zim Online

Friday 17 November
2006

BANJUL - Zimbabwean civic groups attending the
40th ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights
(ACHPR) in The Gambia on Thursday rejected assertions by a government
delegation that President Robert Mugabe was addressing human rights concerns
in the southern African country.

The civic groups spoke out
after the government delegation told the opening session on Wednesday that
Harare was addressing human rights concerns following proposals earlier this
year to set up a Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission. The government
delegation also maintained during its presentation that reports of human
rights violations in the country were grossly exaggerated and were solely
meant to embarrass the Harare authorities.

But yesterday,
Zimbabwean civic that are attending the session in the Gambian capital of
Banjul hit back at the assertions insisting there has not been any
improvement on the ground in the human rights situation in the
country.

The groups, among them the Media Institute of Southern
Africa (MISA), the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) and the
Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum said Harare had stubbornly maintained a raft of
repressive laws against hapless citizens.

"In both the 39th
(held last year) and this session, the Zimbabwean government announced the
setting up of a Human Rights Commission," said Wilbert Mandinde, the legal
officer of MISA-Zimbabwe in his presentation to the
commissioners.

"However, the continued suppression of people's
freedoms by the same government is clear indication of lack of goodwill by
the government.

"Moreso, we believe that a Human Rights Commission
cannot be set and (made to) operate in an environment replete with
repressive legislation such as the one in Zimbabwe," added
Mandinde.

Earlier this year, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa
said the government was planning to set up the Zimbabwe Human Rights
Commission to deal with issues of human rights abuses in the
country.

But civic groups and pro-democracy groups have been highly
critical of the plans saying the Harare authorities were the least qualified
to monitor human rights issues after they were implicated in serious human
rights violations over the past six years.

Speaking at the same
gathering in Banjul, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said while it
agreed in principle with the setting up of such a Commission, "the respect
for fundamental human rights and freedoms has not been cultivated in
Zimbabwe."

The Forum cited, among other examples, the brutal
assault of Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) leaders last September by
the police and state security agents for attempting to demonstrate in Harare
over worsening economic hardships in the country.

The Forum
said Harare had continuously ignored calls by civic groups to repeal
obnoxious legislation such as the tough Public Order and Security Act (POSA)
and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA).

"We have drawn the attention of the Zimbabwe
government to the fact that the human rights operating environment in
Zimbabwe cannot sustain an independent, impartial and effective Zimbabwe
Human Rights Commission.

"The fact that court orders are still
being disobeyed, the rule of law is disregarded, the absence of commitment
to a permanent constitutional reform process and the perpetuation of
unfavourable pieces of legislation all speak against setting up of a
National Human Rights Commission," said the Forum in its
presentation.

The Banjul summit ends on 29 November.

Western governments and human rights groups have often accused Harare of
flouting the rights of its political opponents.

But Mugabe, in
power since the country's independence from Britain 26 years ago, denies the
charges insisting the charges are trumped up to tarnish his government's
image. - ZimOnline

Zim cattle rustlers wreak havoc in
Botswana

Zim Online

Friday 17 November
2006

RAMOGKWEBANA - In this remote village
of Matshelagabedi, in north-eastern Botswana, 67-year old Philemon
Malikongwa says life here will never be the same again. Each night,
the sound of barking dogs suggest more trouble for him and other fear-struck
villagers who live at the mercy of predatory cattle rustlers, from
Zimbabwe.

For the past 40 years, Malikongwa, a subsistence cattle
farmer, says he and his fellow villagers had lived in peace in this dry part
of Botswana.

For him and many other villagers here, livestock
farming is an age-old tradition that is their only source of
livelihood.

But daring raids by desperate Zimbabwean cattle
rustlers is forcing most of these farmers to reconsider their options -
forcing them to make fundamental changes to their lifestyle.

The farmers say they are under serious threat from a new breed of highly
organised cattle rustlers from Zimbabwe who are using mountain bikes to
negotiate the rough terrain in the country.

The farmers say the
cattle rustlers are carrying out daring forays into Botswana stealing
hundreds of cattle and small livestock in single overnight
raids.

"We have lost hundreds of cattle over the past few years and
we are still losing more," says Busang Busang, a communal farmer from the
nearby Sekokwe village.

"The bicycle gangs are can drive a
whole village's herd across the border in one night. We understand that the
cattle are sold or exchanged for goods in Zimbabwe.

"Although
the police are doing their best, it appears that this is one war that they
cannot win," said Busang.

The Botswana government, accused by the
Harare authorities of ill-treating its nationals who visit that country, has
stepped up police and military patrols in villagers along the border with
Zimbabwe.

But even the heavy presence of the Botswana security
forces has failed to dissuade the cattle rustlers from breaching the
notoriously porous border frontier at will.

Large numbers of
illegal Zimbabwean immigrants continue to cross the border into Botswana at
illegal entry points fleeing an unprecedented seven-year old economic crisis
at home.

Relations between Zimbabwe and Botswana are strained with
the Gaborone authorities accusing illegal Zimbabwean immigrants of stoking
crime in their country.

"Many people are slowly abandoning
cattle farming because they do not see any sense in raising herds that will
be lost to thieves one day," said another Botswana villager.

He
said most of them no longer report crimes to the police because property
stolen on the Botswana side of the border can be quickly stashed in
Zimbabwean villages within minutes.

"If your house is ransacked
or you can't find your livestock for just one day, you should quickly give
up all hope of recovery and start accepting your loss," he
said.

To make matter worse, even if the police recover stolen
cattle from Zimbabwe, the cattle are quickly put down on arrival as part of
Botswana's disease control policy.

Police in Matsiloje village
told ZimOnline that although crime had reached unprecedented levels in
villages along the Zimbabwe border, the fault sometimes lay with the
Botswana cattle farmers.

"The farmers blame us for not doing enough
to stop it, but they should know that the illegal Zimbabwean immigrants they
employ and underpay are not here to work for charity.

"They are
here to seek riches and the farmers should know by now that any underpaid
poor man who finds himself in charge of a big herd can be strongly tempted
to steal. That is exactly what happens here," said a senior police officer
who spoke to ZimOnline on condition of anonymity.

He said some of
the cattle rustlers were on 'revenge missions' after they were expelled by
the Botswana farmers without receiving their wages.

Another cattle
herder told ZimOnline: "Some employers literally hand their Zimbabwean
employees over to the police shortly before pay day so that they can be
arrested and deported.

"Those are the ones who lose everything when
former cattle herders come to steal the equivalent of their dues with all
the interest added," he said.

Botswana agriculture minister
Peter Siele said the government was aware of the problem of cattle rustling
along the border with Zimbabwe.

Siele said police patrols were
being intensified on both sides of the border while efforts to find a
lasting solution to illegal immigration and cross-border crime were being
sought out.

But for cattle farmers, such as Malikongwa and hundreds
others in Matshelagabedi, such efforts to find a lasting solution to the
crisis may come a little bit too late. - ZimOnline

White farmers shun compensation
exercise

Zim Online

Friday 17 November
2006

HARARE - Zimbabwe's white farmers are
shunning a government exercise that began this week to pay compensation for
improvements on farms seized during a controversial land reform exercise six
years ago, ZimOnline has learnt.

In a notice published in state
newspapers since last week, President Robert Mugabe's government invited the
former commercial farmers to contact the Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and
Resettlement for their compensation.

Sources within the Lands
Ministry told ZimOnline yesterday that the call had received very few takers
because of the paltry amounts that the cash-strapped government was offering
to the dispossessed white farmers.

"We published the list over the
weekend but there has been a terrible response over the matter," said the
source. "It seems the owners are not happy with the compensation the
government is proposing."

ZimOnline understands that the lowest
paid commercial farmer would walk away with a paltry Z$421 000 while the
highest paid farmer will collect Z$10 056 000.

A spokesperson
of the largely white Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), Emily Crookes,
confirmed that their members had not responded positively to the
government's call.

"We have received very few calls from our
members showing interest in the compensation exercise. But we have advised
our members to get the details in writing rather than shun the exercise
completely.

"Of course the farmers are not happy with the
compensation plan as it does not factor in the land," she said.

The Zimbabwe government has sternly refused to pay compensation for the land
saying it will only pay compensation for improvements on the farms such as
boreholes, dams and buildings.

State Security Minister Didymus
Mutasa, who is also in charge of the government's land reform programme
yesterday confirmed that there has been a lukewarm response from white
farmers over the offer.

But Mutasa insisted that the government
would forge ahead with plans to pay off the farmers.

"We are
not worried at all over the poor response. It could have been better had
they come to our offices with their grievances.

"But we will not
pay for the farms. Compensation is just for the improvements made. The
farmers did not buy the farms - they displaced our ancestors," said
Mutasa.

Commenting on the compensation system yesterday, Renson
Gasela, an agricultural expert and senior official in the splintered
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, dismissed the
proposed monetary figures as "ridiculous."

"The figures are
just pathetic that's why the government has kept them a secret. Only a
thoroughly desperate farmer can take up the offer," he said.

At
least 600 out of an estimated 4 500 white farmers are still on their land
after Mugabe seized thousands of farms as part of his government's land
reform programme.

But the farm seizures have resulted in massive
food shortages over the past six years because the government failed to
support the new black land owners who were resettled on the farms. -
ZimOnline

Harare impounds DRC rail
coaches

Zim Online

Friday 17 November
2006

BULAWAYO - The National Railways of
Zimbabwe (NRZ) has impounded 50 passenger rail coaches destined for the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after the central African country failed
to replace coaches they had hired from Zimbabwe.

The NRZ hired
out 25 coaches to the Congo Railroad Company (CRC) at the height of the
Congo civil war in 1998. But the NRZ refused to collect the coaches after
the war in 2003 because they were in a seriously dilapidated
state.

Sources at the Zimbabwe rail company said the CRC refused
co-operate when the NRZ demanded compensation for the damaged
wagons.

But two weeks ago, the NRZ impounded the 50 coaches which
were on transit to the DRC from South Africa and has since been refusing to
release the coaches until their dispute with the CRC has been
resolved.

A delegation from the DRC arrived in Zimbabwe on Tuesday
last week and had been unsuccessfully trying to negotiate for the release of
the coaches. The coaches are however still stuck in Bulawayo.

NRZ board chairman, Brigadier General Douglas Nyikayaramba, confirmed to
ZimOnline yesterday that the NRZ was holding on to the coaches but sought to
downplay the row saying they were close to striking a deal with the
Congolese over the matter.

"There is no misunderstanding here.
We had hired the passenger coaches to the DRC railways but the coaches are
now wasted and in a state of disrepair. So we called them over to negotiate
on how the NRZ coaches would be replaced.

"I am happy to say an
agreement has been reached and what is now left is to appraise our
governments on the deal," said Nyikayaramba, a retired soldier at the helm
of the struggling parastatal.

The NRZ is now a shadow of its former
self after years of mismanagement and under-funding. Non-functioning
communication systems as well as serious defects on train wagons have
contributed to serious rail accidents in Zimbabwe over the past few years. -
ZimOnline

Women demand 50-50 share of political
power

Zim Online

Friday 17 November
2006

HARARE - At least 50 Zimbabwean women
demonstrated in Harare yesterday demanding a 50 percent share of the
country's political power. The demonstration was organised by the Women
in Politics Support Unit (WIPSU), a civic group that promotes the
participation of women in issues of governance.

The
demonstrators, who included three legislators from the main opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, marched from Africa Unity Square
in central Harare to the Harare Gardens wielding placards demanding an equal
share of political power.

Some of the placards read: "The time for
50 percent women's representation is NOW."

Addressing the
protesters, Harare North legislator Trudy Stevenson said women should demand
equal representation in all elections in future beginning with the upcoming
urban council elections.

"We need 50-50 percent representation
(with men) right now. We need to begin with the forthcoming council
elections," she said.

Human rights groups say although women make
up 52 percent of Zimbabwe's 12 million population, they are not represented
meaningfully in positions of governance. For example, out of the 10
provincial governors in Zimbabwe, only two were women.

In
addition, only 22.2 percent of women are represented in political positions
in the country.

"Fifty-two percent of the women's population being
represented by 22.2 percent in politics is not justifiable," said Rutendo
Hadebe, the director of Women in Politics Support Unit (Wipsu) and one of
the organisers of the protest. - ZimOnline

Zimbabwe to compensate dispossessed
farmers

Zimbabwe on Thursday invited more than 1 000 white
farmers to collect compensation for property seized during a controversial
land-reform programme launched by President Robert Mugabe's
government.

In a four-page notice published in the state-run
Herald newspaper, secretary of lands Ngoni Masoka said dispossessed farmers
should contact the ministry urgently.

"The schedule below
summarises details of farms whose compensation has been fixed in terms of
Section 29 B of the Land Acquisition Act," Masoka said in a
statement.

"The former owners or representatives should
contact the Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement as a matter of
urgency in connection with their compensation."

Zimbabwe
launched its controversial and often violent land reforms seven years ago,
seizing at least 4 000 properties formerly run by white farmers and pledging
to redistribute them to landless blacks.

Mugabe said the
measure was aimed at rectifying historical wrongs and imbalances favouring
British colonial settlers and other white farmers.

He
turned a blind eye when bands of veterans of the country's 1970s liberation
war led the farm seizures, often occupying them after violent attacks. The
move led to a slide in agricultural production, once the bedrock of the
Zimbabwean economy, which is now labouring under four-digit inflation and
previously unheard of food shortages.

At least 500 white
farmers still remain in Zimbabwe while many others have emigrated to other
countries such as Zambia, Mozambique and Nigeria. - Sapa-AFP

Farmers' group calls Zimbabwe's compensation
offer for seized land a sham

International Herald Tribune

The Associated PressPublished: November 16,
2006

HARARE, Zimbabwe: The government on Thursday asked
more than 800 white farmers to claim compensation for properties seized
under the state's land redistribution program, but the main farmers' support
group described the proposed compensation as "daylight robbery" in
Zimbabwe's hyperinflationary economy.

The group Justice for
Agriculture, representing hundreds of displaced white farmers, said that a
four-page notice in state media Thursday calling on former landowners to
lodge claims for compensation with the Agriculture Ministry was a sham
intended to convince outsiders that the farmers were being fairly
treated.

In five previous notices, the government had said compensation
would not be paid for land, but only for buildings and improvements made on
some 5,000 properties seized from white farmers since 2000 in an often
violent program that the government says is meant to return lands taken from
blacks during the colonial era.

"It is nothing short of daylight
robbery," said John Worsely-Worswick, head of the support
group.

Since the land seizure program began, nearly 15,000 blacks have
received parcels of former white-owned land for commercial agricultural
production. Another 141,000 families received small plots.But the often
chaotic seizures disrupted Zimbabwe's agriculture-based economy, plunging
the former regional breadbasket into its worst economic crisis since
independence in 1980. At more than 1,000 percent, official inflation in
Zimbabwe is the highest in the world, and the country also suffers acute
shortages of food, hard currency, gasoline and essential imports.

In
the past four years, nearly 300 displaced whites have accepted offers worth
5-10 percent of the independent valuation of their farms, with some taking
the money because "they were destitute and couldn't pay medical bills or put
food on the table," Worsely-Worswick said.

Those who accepted
compensation offers forfeited ownership and title deeds to their
land.

He said independent surveyors had valued one farmer's large cattle,
corn and tobacco property at the equivalent of US$1 million (?787,400), but
he was offered compensation of 5 million Zimbabwe dollars (US$20,000;
?15,750) - or about enough to buy a secondhand car or four of the latest
cell phones available in Zimbabwe.

The Commercial Farmers Union also
said some of its white members had been forced to accept minimal
compensation because of their indebtedness and "personal
circumstances."

"We are advising farmers to follow up and find out what
the situation is so they simply don't lose their compensation rights by
default," union spokeswoman Emily Crookes said.

Last week, the
government launched a program to issue 99-year leases to black farmers
allocated land seized mostly from white farmers.

President Robert Mugabe
described the first 128 leases as a landmark in his redistribution program
that would improve farm production by giving new farmers security of tenure
for more than a generation.

The land remains state-owned, but loans for
production can be secured against buildings, dams and other facilities on
it.

A handful of displaced white farmers are expected to get leases, but
not on their former properties, and white farmers' support groups have
expressed skepticism over the lease program.

An estimated 400 white
farmers are still working on their original farms, but seizures have
continued, with at least 30 receiving eviction notices from the government
in recent weeks.

The Language of Violence

Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Over
the years, Mugabe's utterances have become ever more coarse and
callous.

By Temba Gumpo in Bulawayo (AR No. 83,
15-Nov-06)

"Mugabe uses the rhetoric of revolution to excuse repression,"
a prominent liberation war veteran, Wilfred Mhanda, observed recently of the
harsh and offensive language that Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's head of state,
frequently uses.

Zimbabwe's late vice president Joshua Nkomo recalled
in his autobiography, The Story of My Life, that he had a humiliating
encounter with Mugabe in 1981, when Mugabe was prime minister. As a cabinet
minister, Nkomo asked the premier whether reports about the secret training
of a private army were true, although they had not been discussed in
cabinet. Mugabe retorted with an arrogance and vehemence that has become
characteristic, "Who are you? Why should you be
consulted?"

Nevertheless, Nkomo soon got his answer in the most horrific
of ways. What was to become the Fifth Brigade, a crack army unit answerable
directly to Mugabe, was being trained clandestinely in Zimbabwe's Eastern
Highlands by more than a hundred military instructors sent from North Korea
by the dictator Kim Il Sung in preparation for a ruthless crackdown on the
Ndebele people of Nkomo's home provinces in Matabeleland.

The assault
by the 3500-strong 5th Brigade on the Ndebeles, in the west and south of the
country, began in January 1983. By the time some 20,000 Ndebele villagers
had been massacred and countless others tortured and terribly beaten, Mugabe
said the operation - launched by Colonel Perence Shiri, one of Mugabe's
former guerrilla chiefs - had been necessary to weed out Ndebele dissidents
who wanted to topple him.

But many analysts believe the assault was
directed at the Ndebele as a whole, not just the radicals in their midst.
"Throughout Matabeleland as a whole [dissident] numbers never exceeded more
than 400 at the peak of [their] activity," said Zimbabwe historian Martin
Meredith of the Ndebele "revolt" in his book "Robert Mugabe: Power, Plunder
and Tyranny in Zimbabwe".

Meredith went on, "They [the dissidents]
had no coherent policy other than to commit random sabotage. Some were
ordinary criminals. They had little popular support and their reputation for
murder, rape and coercion made them even less popular."

As the mass
murders by Shiri and the 5th Brigade in Operation Gukurahundi (a Shona word
meaning, "The early strong rain that washes away the chaff before the spring
rains."] continued, Mugabe dismissed protests from Nkomo with the warning,
"If you try something I will crush you." In a speech on his own Shona ethnic
territory, Mugabe described Nkomo as "a cobra" whose head must be crushed
along with its body -- Nkomo's PF-ZAPU party and its supporters were based
in Matabeleland.

When Nkomo protested that the 5th Brigade was killing
and beating up the civilian population, Mugabe told him that in dealing with
an insurgency "it is difficult for the army to distinguish who is a
dissident and who is not. People should not hide dissidents".

The
real motive behind the Fifth Brigade's storm of terror was to cow the
Ndebele, destroy PF-ZAPU and establish a one-party state with Mugabe at its
head, which he achieved in 1987.

When Catholic peace and justice
activists accused Mugabe and Shiri of conducting a reign of terror in
Matabeleland that included "wanton killings, woundings, beatings, burnings
and rapes [that had] brought about the maiming and death of hundreds of
people who are neither dissidents nor collaborators", Mugabe responded by
warning a gathering in rural Matabeleland, "We have to deal with this
problem quite ruthlessly. Don't cry if your relatives get killed in the
process ... Where men and women provide food for the dissidents, when we get
there we eradicate them."

Over the years, Mugabe's language has become
ever more coarse and callous. In 1998, the then editor of the weekly
Standard newspaper, the late Mark Chavunduka, and his chief reporter Ray
Choto reported an alleged coup attempt within the armed forces. They were
arrested by police who handed them to the army, whose interrogators tortured
the men so severely that they had subsequently to be flown to Britain for
several months of treatment in a London clinic under the protection of the
Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.

Asked for his
reaction to the torture of the journalists, his fellow citizens, Mugabe told
Voice of America radio, "The army had been provoked. I will not condemn my
army for having done that. They can do worse things than that."

When
he launched the brutal confiscation of white commercial farmland in 2000,
which plunged the country into anarchy and a spiral of economic decline, he
warned farmers who resisted, "We have degrees in violence ...I will be a
Black Hitler ten-fold!"

There followed a period when the laws of the land
were virtually suspended as Mugabe launched his so-called "fast-track" land
reform programme, ostensibly to resettle poor blacks but in reality to
destroy what he perceived as the power base of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change, MDC - the white commercial farmers and their mainly black
workers.

After narrowly winning the parliamentary election of July 2000,
which was marked by unprecedented countrywide violence, Mugabe told his
ruling ZANU PF congress in the following December, "We must continue to
strike fear into the heart of the white man. The white man must tremble."
White farmers were assaulted, tortured or killed on their farms after Mugabe
intensified his verbal attack, describing them as "enemies of Zimbabwe who
will die" if they resisted the invasions of their homes and
properties.

But MDC supporters and farm workers bore the brunt of
Mugabe's fury that an opposition party had dared try to remove him from
power. It is estimated that at least 200 people were killed and thousands of
others injured in the lead up to the subsequent presidential election in
2002, widely criticised as fraudulent but which maintained Mugabe in
power.

When the MDC recently announced plans to launch mass protests at
the start of what its leader Morgan Tsvangirai said would be "a cold season
of democratic resistance", Mugabe responded in Shona, "Be warned. We have
trained armed men and women who can pull the trigger." He said the army
would deal ruthlessly with "those planning illegal regime change on behalf
of Tony Blair and George Bush". Mugabe's spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira also
boasted that his boss and ZANU PF have "a long and successful history of
violence".

When the country's top trade union leaders attempted to
demonstrate in September this year for improved basic wages and the
provision of anti-retroviral drugs for Zimbabweans dying from AIDS at a rate
of more than 3,000 a week, Mugabe ordered a police assault. The trade
unionists were hospitalised with broken limbs. Mugabe said he had no
apologies to make to the "pot-bellied" labour chiefs, and went on, "They
[protesters] will be beaten up, so there is no apology for that ... We
cannot have a revolt to the system. Some are crying, 'We were beaten up.'
Yes, you were beaten up. When the police say move, move. If you don't move,
you are inviting police to use force."

MDC Secretary-General Tendai
Biti said that under Mugabe Zimbabwe had become "a predator state
characterised by tolerance for violence". Mugabe's predeliction for violence
was demonstrated yet again in May 2005 when he launched Operation
Murambatsvina (Operation Drive Out the Filth) in a nationwide blitz against
urban slum dwellers and informal traders perceived to be mainly supporters
of the opposition. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special
envoy on human habitat, Anna Tibaijuka, said the campaign "was executed with
military ruthlessness with no regard for human suffering". She estimated
that 700,000 to a million people had been left homeless and without a source
of livelihood.

As his militias and police bulldozed, sledgehammered and
torched the homes of the poor, Mugabe commented, "Our cities and towns had
become havens for illicit and criminal practices and activities which just
could not be allowed to go on."

In January last year, when three to
four million people were desperately hungry as a result of crop failures and
the farm invasions, Mugabe refused international food aid for the starving,
saying foreigners were "foisting" food upon unwilling Zimbabweans, before
adding, "We are not hungry. We don't want to choke on your
food."

Targets of Mugabe's hatred are numerous. But while attacking
foreigners, white farmers, Ndebeles, political opponents and others, he
retains some of his most vindictive rhetoric for homosexuals. He has branded
gays "un-Christian" and "un-African" and as "lower than pigs and dogs". He
attacks his most hated foreign enemy, Tony Blair, by calling him a "gay
gangster" and blasting him for having homosexuals in his cabinet while
boasting in Shona that his own cabinet is full of amadoda sibili (real men)
who can distinguish between "Adam and Eve and Adam and Steve". He once said,
"Homosexuals have no rights whatsoever. If pigs and dogs don't do it, why
must human beings?"

While Mugabe throws out insults like confetti, he
dislikes them so much when aimed at him that his government introduced the
Public Order and Security Act, POSA, which makes it an offence to say
anything that risks "undermining the authority of or insulting the
President". This prohibition includes statements likely to engender
"feelings of hostility towards" the president, cause "hatred, contempt, or
ridicule" of him, or any "abusive, indecent, obscene, or false statements
about him personally, or his office".

One businessman was convicted of
"insulting" the president after saying Mugabe had "printed useless money" -
something nearly every Zimbabwean agrees with since inflation topped 1,200
per cent. A bus passenger was jailed after a Central Intelligence
Organisation agent listened to him arguing with his brother and telling him
not to be "thick-headed like Mugabe".

Under the law, South Africa's
much loved Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu would go
straight to prison in Zimbabwe. Tutu in several speeches has said Mugabe
will only be remembered for being power crazy, adding, "Mugabe seems to have
gone bonkers in a big way ... [He is] on the slippery slope to
perdition."

But perhaps Tutu, unlike ordinary Zimbabweans, would escape
prosecution, just like the man who has been dubbed the "Tutu of Zimbabwe",
the country's senior Roman Catholic cleric, the Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius
Ncube.

Ncube is the most outspoken and fearless Zimbabwean critic of
Mugabe, but the head of state, himself a Catholic, has as yet refrained from
prosecuting the archbishop.

When it comes to insults, Archbishop
Ncube has gone just about as far as it is possible to go. "We are all
praying that the Lord will take Mugabe away soon," he once told IWPR.
"Everyone is fed up with him, including his own [party] people. We're all
hoping against hope that something will happen."

He has said many similar
things, once describing the president as a "deceitful, cunning and sly
criminal ... a lip-service Christian, a mere murderer watching his people
sink".

The archbishop enrages Mugabe so much that he has accused the
prelate of "Satanic betrayal" for opposing English cricket tours of Zimbabwe
and has denounced him as an HIV-positive homosexual who rapes and
impregnates nuns.

In one of his responses, Archbishop Ncube said, "I
don't think Christ would have survived in Zimbabwe. Mugabe's government
doesn't like people who speak the truth. Plenty of people [who criticise the
government] have died mysteriously. Christ wouldn't have had a
chance."

Five year plan to battle HIV/AIDS on farms launched

[This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

HARARE, 16 Nov
2006 (IRIN/PLUSNEWS) - Zimbabwe's government is launching a five-year plan
to combat HIV/AIDS in the agricultural sector after realising the impact of
the pandemic on farming.

The initiative, 'Zimbabwe Agricultural Sector
Strategy on HIV and AIDS ' - coordinated by the agriculture ministry, with
support by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and other
nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) - is seeking to mobilise financial and
human resources to halt the spread of the disease on farms, reduce stigma
against people living with HIV/AIDS, fight gender inequality and domestic
violence, and facilitate treatment for infected people.

The
agriculture ministry, which concedes that it has lacked a clear policy on
HIV/AIDS, intends to establish an agricultural management information system
to monitor various issues related to health and service delivery, and
accurately assess the cost of HIV/AIDS to farming communities and the extent
to which farmworkers and agricultural-sector employees are vulnerable to the
disease.

According to the Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey,
18.1 percent of sexually active adult people in a population of about 11.5
million are infected with HIV - the sixth highest prevalence in the
world.

"HIV and AIDS is affecting personnel from the agricultural
sub-sectors, that is, the ministry of agriculture and its departments, the
parastatals under the ministry, private-sector providers, the farming
community and agri-business. Therefore, the integrity of the sector should
be protected against the impact of HIV and AIDS. In the absence of a
strategy, the agricultural-sector response to HIV and AIDS has been erratic
and uncoordinated," the ministry said in a statement.

Vulnerability
in the agriculture sector was heightened by factors such as worker
migrations during harvests, which led to long periods away from their
families when they often stayed at centres that "have been identified as
hotspots for HIV infection".

"The Ministry of Agriculture and its
departments, parastatals and commercial farms have experienced an increase
in absenteeism of staff due to illness, attendance of funerals and the need
to care for the sick," the ministry commented.

More disturbingly,
there has been a "decline in crop varieties, and changes in cropping
patterns, as high labour-demanding cash crops may be abandoned", with
subsistence farmers being forced to sell cattle and donkeys used for draught
power to meet care and treatment expenses.

Around 70 percent of the
population depends on agriculture, which provides more than 60 percent of
the raw materials used in the manufacturing sector and contributes up to 45
percent of the country's exports.

Low literacy levels in farming
communities, caused by a shortage of farm schools, made it difficult to
communicate anti-AIDS messages effectively, while "poor housing conditions
on commercial farms and in research station compounds result in overcrowding
and a breakdown of social norms, ... [which] encourages risky sexual
behaviour."

Government's response to HIV/AIDS in the sector has been
limited to appointing people to a few positions in the agriculture
ministry's headquarters in the capital, Harare, and provincial offices, who
merely hand out condoms and basic information without any clear
strategy.

The fight against HIV/AIDS in agriculture has been carried out
mainly by community-based nongovernmental organisations, farmers' unions and
HIV/AIDS service organisations, some of whom have established nutrition and
herbal gardens, and community fields for infected and affected
people.

Gift Muti, deputy secretary-general of the General Agricultural
and Plantation Workers Union (GAPWUZ), which represents some of Zimbabwe's
400,000 farmworkers, welcomed the "positive" initiative, but cited poverty
as one of the main reasons for the spread of HIV/AIDS.

"From even
before independence [in 1980], farm workers have tended to be poorly paid
and live in abject poverty. This makes it easy for them to be infected
because women are easily forced into prostitution, while sex is the main
source of entertainment, since farm owners only provide them with
beerhalls," Muti told IRIN.

Muti, whose poorly funded organisation
distributes food to sick farmworkers, said it was common for girls younger
than 18 years to marry, while divorce and extra-marital affairs were run of
the mill among farmworkers.

Since the government launched its fast-track
land reform programme in 2000, in which farmland was redistributed from
white farmers to landless blacks, Zimbabwe's economy has gone into freefall.
An annual inflation rate hovering around 1,000 percent has seen unemployment
rise above 70 percent, while shortages of foreign currency have caused food,
fuel and electricity to become scarce commodities.

Interview: Archbishop Pius
Ncube

New Zimbabwe

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------SW
Radio Africa's Violet Gonda interviewed Archbishop Pius Ncube for the
programme, Hot Seat which aired Tuesday. Here is the full transcript of the
interview:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Last
updated: 11/15/2006 10:45:22Broadcast on Tuesday, November 14,
2006Violet Gonda: Welcome to the final segment of the debate on the recently
launched church discussion document called The Zimbabwe We Want: Towards A
National Vision For Zimbabwe.

It's been said the church is in a very
difficult position. Being critical hasn't really made an impact and being
soft hasn't helped either. Is the church now trying to confront wrong, but
without offending the regime? These are some of the issues discussed on the
program with one of the signatories to the document, Catholic Archbishop for
Bulawayo Pius Ncube.

Some critics have described the document as being
too soft, like Thabo Mbeki's quiet diplomacy on Zimbabwe. So I started by
asking the cleric if he agreed with these sentiments.

Archbishop Pius
Ncube: Ya I think it's true. You see I think someone leaked among these
three bodies of Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Council of
Churches and the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference, somebody leaked it
to the Government and then the Government was demanding that before it's
published certain passages should be removed. And so I've seen that it's
been really toned down.

It's not the real original document that we
agreed upon as Churches. They've cut it down into a very, very soft document
but perhaps still it can be used as a discussion document. But I don't like
the bullying of the Government. This Government has done enough harm; enough
bullying, they are causing suffering on people and now they must come over
and bully us, the Churches. That was supposed to be our document, not their
document. I'm pretty angry about this.

Violet: When you say that
certain passages were removed or the Government ordered certain issues to be
removed from the document, do you remember which parts were actually removed
from the original document?

Archbishop Pius Ncube: I haven't studied it
altogether, but, for instance, I was looking at the media and we were
pointing out how the Government is pushing us around in media and it's
causing, there's no liberty of expression, and the Government goes to add
only one sentence; cuts down the whole paragraph. It says 'the media is
polarised and is not always working for national unity', that's all that
they write. So that they cut down the document to favour them. Anything that
was quite strong referring to the Government and all the problems that they
ought to address they didn't address. They cut it down and they softened it,
so that it's really like decaf; decaffeinated tea you know. The strong side
and all the issues that they feel strongest about, they've really toned them
down.

Violet: Now, there were others.

Archbishop Pius Ncube
(continues): .but, I haven't finished comparing because I lent my document
to somebody, somebody who is researching, this person is a student involved
in studying current issues involving Churches.

Violet: Would you also
agree with critics who say that there are quite a lot of issues or other
things that were not dealt with in detail, like Gukurahundi, the Youth
Militia and torture. Would you agree with this?

Archbishop Pius Ncube:
Yes, Gukurahundi was mentioned but it's too soft. Gukurahundi was a very
serious issue, 20 000 lives is no joke, and to just play it down just like
that; I'm not happy. There's also issues of impunity. These criminals,
sponsored by the Government, they always go out and cause a lot of distress.
They murder people and so forth, and afterwards they are then exonerated and
a law is passed so that amnesty is granted to them. So, this constant
impunity, going back to days of Ian Smith, this Government also is guilty of
impunity. The wrong and evil things where people are excused and let to go
scot-free when they have actually done a lot of harm to the nation and to
certain individuals and even been involved in murder and gross
corruption.

Violet: Now, with what you are saying some people have said
that the Church is trying to confront wrong without offending the Mugabe
regime. Do you agree with this?

Archbishop Pius Ncube: In a way Ya,
as Church we are too soft. In such a way that I wonder whether we are going
to make any headway. But you see I think perhaps we are so desperate;
desperately looking for a solution that we are ready to go two miles rather
than one mile with the Government, but I don't know whether it works. What
really worries me is that Mugabe is an awfully arrogant and heartless
person. And, for him, what matters is power and filling his own pockets with
money and that even as Church, as we come up to him, I wonder whether he is
going to listen because for him, where his power base is threatened he is
not going to go along but where his position is strengthened he will go
along.

Violet: But you know, Archbishop, the last time we spoke just a
couple of weeks ago you said half a loaf is better than nothing and that we
should give this initiative a chance, and you were one of the people who
signed the document, together with people like Walter Kamba, Marvellous
Mhloyi. And, people ask that is it possible that the Mugabe regime is using
some of the Church leaders and using some people who are respected and
wanting to associate themselves with people who are critical, to legitimise
the regime and to legitimise this initiative and you are being drawn or
sucked into this. Would you agree with those sentiments?

Archbishop
Pius Ncube: Yes, I am beginning to agree with that because you see when I
looked at the document, the original document was quite a great effort you
know. And we were trying to follow the Kairos document done by the Churches
in South Africa. Where when things really were absolutely hopeless and no
one knew what next in regards to the Apartheid government and the ANC
fighting with other Nationalist parties, also engaged in fighting for
justice and peace to come to South Africa. Then in that situation the
Churches said we can't just stand around and fold our hands; let's put out a
document where the concerns of everybody are reflected. And so we were
trying to put out that.

But, I was hoping that this was going to be our
document not that the Government should now poke its nose and remove
something like eight or nine pages from our document and soften; completely
soften it so that they will always appear innocent. I'm extremely
disenchanted having seen how they've done a lot of damage to our original
document.

Violet: But these pages that were removed; the eight or nine
pages that you mentioned. Were they removed after or before you signed the
document and had you had a chance to look at it?

Archbishop Pius
Ncube: They were removed after we signed the document. We agreed as I was
saying that it was a hush, hush job. We came together as Churches and were
reading - how can you, Violet, even if you are very intelligent, how can you
read through a fifty page A4 closely typed document in three hours? How can
you do it? I mean this is meant to be a very crucial document, it's supposed
to reflect some of the most important national issues, it's supposed to be a
document to deal with life or death issues and we just rushed through it in
three hours from 10.00 up to 1.00.

I did point out that I was extremely
displeased. We were supposed to have got that document, discuss it with
other fellow clergy. We just gathered as Bishops; we had never even talked
with other fellow priests or other lay people and then we gathered and
approved it. Nevertheless, it was quite a fine document, reflecting some of
the crucial issues. But they go and cut it down and they remove eight or
nine pages so that it's softened. I'm extremely displeased. That's not our
document, it's a Government document.

Violet: So now that you feel
disenchanted, do you still support the initiative?

Archbishop Pius
Ncube: I do Violet because I mean the people of Zimbabwe are suffering so
much Violet, honestly we just don't know what to do. There's so much
suffering Violet here that honestly if it was said 'can someone offer
himself to die so that we can remain and return to normalcy', I would go and
give myself to the Lord and pray and be ready to be killed to bring
normalcy. Honestly, so many innocent people are suffering Violet here and
these are the young people. I mean, I'm 60, so OK I've had the bulk of my
life. But look at the youngsters; they have to run away, they go to South
Africa because they can't live normally here

A youngster cannot buy a
house, a house costs so much here, no one can possibly afford a house, even
a house in Mbare or Makakoba, the poorest suburbs, it's so costly. These
youngsters cannot get married unless they have a bit of money. Unless they
do mapoto you know, and they can't get educated with the ever-increasing
prices that are there. Half the children in primary and secondary schools
are no longer in school in Zimbabwe. Things are closing down. The medical
services are hopeless here; specialists have left; the hospital equipment
has broken down.

Often we have electricity black outs every day,
something like two or three hours blackouts during which time everything is
put to risk including incubators and so on. So we are in such dire straits
that we are looking for every way to bring about peace and normalisation. We
are no longer looking for the idealistic democracy. We can't anyway; a man
Mugabe has no idea about what democracy is, he's an absolute dictator; a
most shameful one. So, in such a situation where the people are at risk. So
in such a situation where we are facing a life or death situation, we are
looking for a way out to save the lives of the people. We have murderers
here and they don't care about the lives of the people, so we are trying to
look for every way, including soft ways.

Violet: That's what I was
going to say.

Archbishop Pius Ncube: I .

Violet: That's what I was
going to ask, you know, it seems the Church is in a very difficult position
and you've just painted a very bleak picture

Archbishop Pius Ncube: It is
yes.

Violet: Now some say being critical hasn't really made an impact and
being soft hasn't helped either. Now what other options are there really for
the Church? What can the Church do?

Archbishop Pius Ncube: The
trouble is that the Church is divided, right, left and centre, they are
divided. Whether you look at EFZ on its own; it's divided. You look at ZCC;
they are divided. You look at ZCBC; they are divided and so because they are
divided it's very hard and Mugabe uses that division to his advantage. It's
very, very hard to come up with a, we hardly make an impact. We should have
taken the chance to make an impact by standing together. I mean, the
Churches in Zambia they stood together against Kaunda, against Chiluba. The
Churches in Malawi, they stood together against Banda and then later Maluzi
wanted a third term and they said 'no'.

But here we are paling on both
shoulders and so Mugabe is only too glad; divide and conquer; that's his
principle. So in view of that it's really difficult to see any option
because if we were united we would stand together and remove this government
through popular uprising and a peaceful uprising. But, because we are so
divided we are looking for every possible way; whether through prayer or by
persuasion or by inviting fellow Churches outside the country to discuss
with them possible ways. It's not easy to find the options because we are
dealing with people here who are lawless.

Violet: And some also ask that
do you think Mugabe is creating a platform for peace talks with this
initiative, because some believe that he does not want to preside over peace
talks with the MDC because he doesn't want to be seen to be too weak and is
now creating an environment where there is debate with this initiative.
Would you agree with this?

Archbishop Pius Ncube: Oh yes, yes. Well he's
such a trickster most likely he'd have it that way, Ya, I would agree with
that. I mean we had Bishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, the successor of Desmond
Tutu coming; the Archbishop of Cape Town, the Anglican. He came over to
Mugabe and Mugabe kept saying 'Yes, yes, we want mediation, yes, we want
peace'. But we know he's not interested in peace because when it came to
real talks he never got to the nitty gritty issues of MDC because what
Mugabe wants to do is just to swallow them up so that they become part of
Zanu PF. He doesn't want the kind of sharing of power; he's far from
that.

Violet: And Archbishop, do you think there are co-relations between
the re-unification talks between the MDC factions and the launching of this
document?

Archbishop Pius Ncube: Uhh, I'm not sure, it's possible. I
mean I think there are some Church men who are trying to encourage unity and
there are a lot of civic society, a lot of non-governmental organisations
that are in favour of peace. They see that the division of the MDC it only
made Zanu PF stronger in its dictatorship. So it's possible, I don't know
what all is going on in talks between the two MDCs and who initiated them.
But a lot of people are anxious that Zanu PF should stop its bullying and
for us to weaken their bullying, if the MDC is strong then their bullying
tactics become weak.

Violet: And also on the issue of the MDC, do you
think this re-unification or these unity talks, so called unity talks are
about bringing personalities together or its about the core issues in the
struggle which is removing Mugabe as you said earlier?

Archbishop
Pius Ncube: You mean in the case of the MDC?

Violet: In the
MDC

Archbishop Pius Ncube: Ya I think they are dealing partly with the
personality issues and partly with the core issues. The sad thing is that
this Morgan Tsvangirai he is also become very Mugabe-istic, in a sense in
that he takes MDC as his party that only he must lead it. Because I know
that they went around harassing people who were a threat to him. They were
harassed, and shjamboked and striped naked at Harvest House there, I know
it. And so, then, it also was felt that he doesn't always follow the
constitution, where it doesn't suit him he just overrules his Council. So
this is quite a sad thing so in view of that it means that they have to deal
with core issues but so often, I understand he tries to ignore the other
faction. He wants to put himself up as The MDC; the others are non existent.
So these are the issues.

So I'm not quite sure really what they are
dealing with but I think they are trying to deal with both the personalities
and also the core issues which divided the MDC. MDC must also examine
itself, I mean, OK at present there's no other real strong party that we can
vote for, so those who are really pro-democracy they will vote for MDC but
it doesn't mean that we should say 'yes, yes' to everything that's going on
there, right? Things that are incorrect and evil, we can criticise
constructively right? I mean MDC has a lot of wonderful things in it, but, I
mean I hate that attitude of 'I'm the owner of this Party'. Like Mugabe, he
thinks he's the owner of Zanu PF. He's not the owner of Zanu PF. Zanu PF is
meant to be a vehicle to bring about good living conditions for the people,
because any political party is important in so far as it helps the people to
attain their ends and to attain their livelihoods and get their basics. When
a party fails to deliver that, it must just get out. The same with MDC. They
are not there forever. If they fail to deliver they will find themselves
getting out.

Violet: But others would also say what about the Mutambara
faction, it doesn't seem to be doing much?

Archbishop Pius Ncube:
They are, ya. The thing is that actually there is not much that's published
about the other faction. But I know that they were trying to get the
memorandum of understanding between the two of them. But I heard that there
were three from the Tsvangirai faction and three from Mutambara faction and
they got an agreement on certain things. For instance that certainly they
would have to share 50/50 the vehicles rather than quarrel and fight each
other. But, I heard that now when the Mutambara faction accepted that, the
Tsvangirai faction wouldn't accept, they didn't come forward. I mean, OK,
it's always necessary to compromise. I mean, Morgan Tsvangirai is partly to
blame for the division of MDC; he over-rode the decision of his Council. His
Council had decided by 33 votes to 31 in favour of the Senate, and he said
they should vote. If you allow them to vote then you must respect the vote;
not just override. He is partly responsible.

Violet: But then there
are others who would then say is it not time, you know, to let it go and
move on and try to find ways.

Archbishop Pius Ncube: It is yeah, it's
time to move on, but unfortunately there's pride again. Just like this pride
that we are in with regards to Zanu PF. A lot of people are frustrated in
Zanu PF, for instance some young people, I hear they are frustrated. Because
all these old timers like Mugabe they are sticking, clinging to positions
and young people have no say and the future belongs to young people. They
are not even ashamed, I mean a man who is 82 years old should be ashamed and
step down and give room to the young people; not to be clinging. He has had
his time. But then this is the danger that the MDC is getting into. You have
a few people at the top up there and the others are not listened. I mean
let's always be ready for criticism. There's no place where we grow without
criticism, including in the Church. I often ask my priests to evaluate and
to write their criticism, things they are not happy with in the Church or
with my administration. It's very painful to be criticised but that's the
only way forward. How are we going to grow without allowing ourselves to be
evaluated and to be told what makes people unhappy.

Violet: Alright.
Now, so a final word Archbishop Pius Ncube. You know, Zimbabwe is a country
that is burning and so in your view what do you think is the way forward,
the Church has launched this discussion document.

Archbishop Pius Ncube:
My hope is that all the stakeholders will realise that we are dealing with,
I mean, they will have in mind the good; the common good for every person in
Zimbabwe and that therefore people should give up their arrogant positions
and say 'what can best serve the people' and then launch into and move
towards a peaceful solution where people can at least live even if we might
not get every thing that we want. If at least people can live.

You
see for instance, the Unity Accord in 1987 agreed between ZAPU and Zanu PF
the whole idea there was ok let's concentrate on what gives life, let's not
take hard lines. They were taken down in the negotiation something like 13
times and the Catholic Church was involved and the Catholic Commission for
Justice and Peace. And, finally the Unity Accord was achieved. Well, it's
true that they swallowed up ZAPU and ZAPU lost its properties and what have
you; there were a lot of injustices that happened. But at least the whole
idea was well we rather that than the killing of 20 000 innocent civilians
which Zanu PF carried out here in Matabeleland.

Let's rather come to
a solution where at least we can be alive. We can preserve life rather than
be at each other's throats our lives our threatened by hunger and inability
to pay for hospital fees and all the services just break down gradually and
people cannot live on their salaries; even professional people. A lot of
people suffer. Even those who are backing the present lawless system, they
suffer. There's so much discomfort, there's so much depression, and so, my
hope is that we get at least to a compromise solution where people can at
least breathe. Not in this hothouse where everything becomes more and more
senseless.

The only sense that is there for people like Mugabe is that
'Oh at least I remain in power and at least I haven't lost power'. But, like
Mutasa said; this is the attitude of Zanu PF; you can sacrifice life to
power. It doesn't matter, as Mutasa said, if half the Zimbabweans die, as
long as we remain with those that support us. So, I'm saying OK can we find
a way where people can continue to live even if we don't get everything that
we bargained for.

Violet: OK, thank you very much Archbishop Pius
Ncube.

Archbishop Pius Ncube: Thanks Violet.

Audio interview can
be heard on SW Radio Africa's Hot Seat programme. Comments and feedback can
be emailed to violet@swradioafrica.com

Probe into overseas nurses

AT least 18 Zimbabwe nurses
wanting to or already working in South Australia are being investigated by
the South Australian Nursing Board for using suspected false
documents.

Health Minister John Hill told Parliament yesterday that 28
nurses had been registered in South Australia "under mutual recognition with
other Australian jurisdictions and that initial checks had resulted in the
Nurses Board further investigating 18 nurses'' for suspected falsified
Certificates of Good Standing.

"(of those) Eight reside in Zimbabwe,
two are believed to reside in Zimbabwe, five in South Australia, one in
Queensland, one in New Zealand and the whereabout of one is not yet clear,''
Mr Hill said.

Mr Hill said all current application from Zimbabwe had been
frozen, while all Certificates of Good Standing for the 88 nurses and
midwives currently registered are being "closely examined''.

He said
all future applications from Zimbabwe would now require further stringent
requirements.

Mercy flight delayed by Zim clearance block

PRETORIA: Bureaucracy nearly cost a man his life when Zimbabwean
authorities revoked a takeoff clearance by a rescue service, International
SOS said yesterday.

The Medical Director of International SOS, Roger
Dickerson, said the organisation had received a call to rescue a severely
injured South African citizen in Zimbabwe on Monday.

A blanket
clearance had been authorised by Zimbabwean authorities before their
departure from Lanseria Airport, Johannesburg.

On arrival in Harare, the
flight doctor and nurse went to the side of the patient, conducted an
assessment and prepared the patient for transport in an air
ambulance.

"When we were about to take off, the pilots were told that the
takeoff clearance had been revoked. We made urgent representations to the
Zimbabwean authorities, to no avail."

He said the five-hour delay had
endangered the patient's life.International SOS representatives contacted
the Department of Foreign Affairs and the ambassador to Zimbabwe in Harare
to resolve the issue.

"With the direct intervention of the South African
Ambassador, final clearance was given, but International SOS has no
explanation regarding why the clearance had been revoked."

Dickerson
said investigations into why their takeoff had been revoked were underway.
"International SOS has never been prevented from landing or taking off
anywhere and this was the first time," he said. - Sapa

For the past seven days, I've been sleeping under bridges,
in phone booths and in abandoned buildings -- anywhere dry. I've been living
out of a suitcase. The suitcase is getting heavy. I might leave it here
today. There's nothing in it that I really need ... nothing I can live
without.

My wife threw me out of the house last week because I
remind her of a terrible period in her own life. I've brought her nothing
but grief. She wishes she'd never met me. And on top of that I'm not
working. I haven't been working for a very long time.

She says
I'm not working because I'm selfish and lazy. I want other people to do
things for me. I want other people to look after me.

I try to tell
her that I'm not working because the country's immigration laws do not allow
me to work, but she doesn't listen. She doesn't understand when I tell her I
am terrified of coming into contact with the police and with immigration
officials.

The only way I can work is if I buy papers. The only way
I can work is if I buy identity documents and fake Home Office letters which
say that I'm allowed to work. The last time I checked a British passport was
going for about £2,000, and the only way I can raise that kind of money is
if I have a job that pays well in the first place and I can't get a job
because I don't have papers.

If I somehow manage to find the
money and I manage to buy the papers, if I'm caught there's a risk I'll be
sent to prison for six months or more. There's the added risk that after
serving the prison sentence, I'll be sent to an immigration detention center
for a further six months or more. There's also the risk that after all this
time in prison and in detention, I'll be deported.

I don't want
to be deported. I want to stay alive.

I left Zimbabwe because my
life was at risk. I left because the lives of those who were close to me
were at risk.

I'd received a death threat from ZANU PF or CIO
operatives because I was perceived to be an opposition political party
activist. I'd been chased out of a job that I loved and had been blacklisted
from teaching. I'd been harassed, interrogated, beaten and detained by
security agents in the country.

If I'd stayed on in Zimbabwe,
other equally horrific things would have happened to those closest to me and
I'd either have become permanently unhinged or I'd be dead. I'm not sure
which is worse than the other.

My wife's also paid a price because
of her association with me, which is why I don't blame her for the way she
thinks. If it weren't for me, none of the things that happened to her would
have happened. I feel I've failed her. I should have been able to protect
her. I should have been able to keep her safe. I should have been able to
look after her. I failed.

When we came to the U.K. I thought it
would be a new beginning. I thought we'd be able to salvage our
relationship. But things haven't improved. I have no control over anything.
I can't work. I can't study. I can't do anything except wait and hope that
somewhere along the way the Home Office or an immigration judge will look at
my case and see what I see and allow me and my family to settle and live
normal lives.

In the meantime, I'll stay here under this bridge, in
that phone booth, in that abandoned building ... anywhere where it is
dry.

Up to 200 Zim media workers to lose jobs

IOL

November 16
2006 at 03:50PM

Harare - The privately-owned Financial Gazette said
that Henry Muradzikwa told a workers' meeting at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Holdings (ZBH) that almost half of all employees would have to be retrenched
in the next three weeks.

"Muradzikwa said ZBH was seriously
overstaffed and more than 200 of us would have to go home," one worker told
the paper.

If confirmed, the news will come as a further blow to
Zimbabwe's struggling media workers. Dozens have lost their jobs since
President Robert Mugabe's government used tough media laws to close
down four newspapers perceived to be anti-government.

Jobs with the
official media are usually more secure. But a parliamentary investigation
earlier this year into conditions at the state-run broadcaster uncovered
mounting levels of

Zimbabwe refugees evicted from church

By Tichaona
Sibanda. 16 November 2006

A sombre mood prevailed at the
Methodist church in central Johannesburg on Thursday as Zimbabwean refugees
sheltering at the premises were being evicted. The mayor of Johannesburg
Amos Masondo had given them an ultimatum that they should all leave the
church premises by 12 midday Thursday.

Oliver Kubikwa from the
Zimbabwe Political Victims Association ZIPOVA, said only about two dozen
refugees remained inside the church by the time of the deadline. He said
most of them were women still breastfeeding, with nowhere else to go. 'They
are still in the church with their little babies. They just don't have
anywhere else to go but all efforts are being made to find them alternative
accommodation.'

There were over 100 refugees who were still under
the care of the church when the notice of eviction was served on the group
by the Johannesburg mayor. The group was part of a large contingent of about
a thousand Zimbabweans who were temporarily sheltered at the church since
last year.

But a growing resentment of the refugees within the
church community has been on the rise over the last couple of months. On
Sunday during a church service, elders threatened to cut the power supply,
water and other essential services to the building. Some church members
accused the refugees of being disobedient and violent. Other allegations
claimed there was a lot of prostitution going on at the church, claims that
were vehemently dismissed by the refugees as baseless and
unfounded.

Many of the refugees had left the church as pressure
grew within the community for them to be evicted following violent clashes
in April that left two people dead.

Most of those who have left
the premises said they had nowhere to go except to sleep outside. To make
matters worse, the refugees still do not have any documentation to remain
legally in South Africa. They now face the danger of being picked up by the
police and sent back to Zimbabwe.

Kubikwa said it was depressing
witnessing fellow Zimbabweans walking from a shelter to live in the open,
when the South African government could have helped by granting them refugee
status.

Golden Leaf Loses Its Glitter

Financial Gazette (Harare)

November
15, 2006Posted to the web November 16, 2006

Kumbirai Mafunda Senior
Business ReporterHarare

THE auctioning of 55.5 million kilogrammes of
tobacco in the 2005/06 selling season shows a relentless decline of one of
Zimbabwe's main sources of hard currency, spelling doom for the country's
efforts to stem a seven-year economic decline.

With Zimbabwe's
six-year foreign currency crisis choking the country, the harvesting of the
golden leaf was anticipated to bring relief to President Robert Mugabe's
foreign currency-starved administration, battling to import grain, fuel and
essential drugs.

But official figures made available by the Tobacco
Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) show that at the end of September, the
penultimate month for the sales, a total of 55.5 million kg, the tiniest
crop since independence, had passed through the country's three auction
floors. The crop, down sharply from 73.4 million kg sold in 2005, generated
revenues of about US$110.7 million down from US$118.1 million earned in
2005.

The latest tobacco crop compares negatively with the harvest of 237
million kg, which earned more than US$400 million in 2000, the year land
redistribution began.

Until the government began confiscating
thousands of commercial farms in 2000, tobacco underwrote the economy,
supplying up to 40 percent of its foreign currency while the wealth
generated by leaf tobacco marketing and production assisted to improve the
quality and standard of life, created employment and attracted educational,
health and social facilities in relatively impoverished rural
areas.

Critical observers note that the perpetual hard currency shortage
worsened by the steep drop in the production of tobacco, which is geared for
the unmanufactured international leaf market, will accelerate Zimbabwe's
economic meltdown.

In a
desperate bid to lift sales, the TIMB extended mop-up sales to December 16,
making this year's selling season the longest since independence, ironically
at a time when Zimbabwe has produced its smallest tobacco crop.

The
latest tobacco harvest continues a pattern of steady decline that began six
years ago when veterans of the liberation war and ZANU PF supporters
embarked on an orgy of disorderly land seizures.

Grower organisations
attribute the fall in production to the erratic supply of critical inputs
like fertiliser, chemicals and fuel. New farmers resettled under the
government's land reform exercise and who constitute the bulk of tobacco
growers, had been the hardest hit by the erratic supply of fuel and the
shortage of inputs.

Prospects of a recovery do not look any better in
2006/07 as the government seizes even more farms.

At the end of
October, the planting dates for the main dry-land crop, more than 100 white
farmers were forced to cancel their cropping plans. The Commercial Farmers'
Union (CFU) says its members are still being served with eviction notices
barring them from working their fields.

Against the background of a
government undertaking to halt land seizures, which have decimated
agricultural production, government supporters have reportedly intensified
farm invasions, ordering all production to cease even if crops are ready to
be harvested and appeals against the evictions are pending.

Failure
to comply with an eviction order attracts a sentence of up to two years in
prison.

The Mashona-land West and East, Manicaland, Midlands and Masvingo
farming regions are reported to be the worst affected by the fresh wave of
farm disturbances.

In Banket and Karoi, mainly rich tobacco growing
areas, tobacco farmers say they are being served with eviction notices
signed by State Security, Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement Minister
Didymus Mutasa at a stage when they should be transplanting
seedlings.

It is estimated that between 3 000 and 5 000 jobs could have
been lost as a result of the latest wave of evictions.

Critics warn
that the radical parcelling out of productive pieces of land to unproductive
farmers under the pretext of redressing colonial injustices could
drastically reduce next year's harvest.

"Projections for next year point
to a crop harvest of 35 million kg on the basis of the land preparation done
so far," Robinson warns.

Out of the few remaining white farmers left in
the country, the majority have been dispossessed in the middle of planting
their seedlings.

But some optimists still hold out hope for a modest
recovery. They point to the issuing of 99-year leases to 'productive'
farmers, which they say brings certainty to both the new settlers and half a
dozen commercial farmers who remain on their land.

"With the issue of
land tenure now resolved, farmers can now be able to leverage the value of
their farmland as collateral," said one Harare-based
economist.

President Mugabe who last week issued the first 99-year
leases to 125 farmers drawn from across the country's 10 provinces out of a
total of 275 farmers whose applications were approved by the government
instituted National Land Board, says the long lease agreements guarantee
land ownership and can be used as collateral for borrowing from financial
institutions.

On the other hand, the TIMB says it is working in
cooperation with Zimbank, a local commercial bank, to assist new black
tobacco growers who have had difficulties raising money to invest in
machinery and agricultural inputs such as fertiliser to access funding for
the 2006/07 season. The finance scheme is targeted at farmers with a good
loan repayment track record.

Farm Workers Mull Job Action

Financial Gazette (Harare)

November
15, 2006Posted to the web November 16, 2006

Zhean
GwazeHarare

PROSPECTS for an improved summer agricultural season,
already threatened by a myriad other factors, could be reduced further if
commercial farm workers, who are disgruntled with their fourth quarter wage
increments, go on strike.

The General Agriculture Plantation Workers
Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) is currently holding consultations with the
country's more than 200 000 farm and plantation workers to map out the way
forward and set in motion the process of seeking clearance to embark on
nationwide industrial action.

GAPWUZ secretary general Gertrude Hambira
said farm workers were not happy with the wages of between $5 000 and $6 000
that commercial farmers were offering.

The workers earned $4 100 from
May to August this year. Wage adjustments in the sector are effected on a
quarterly basis.

New farmers allocated land under Zimbabwe's
controversial land reform programme employ the majority of the poorly paid
workers.

More than 3 000 former white-owned commercial farms were
allocated to landless blacks to correct a historical imbalance that reserved
the best land for whites while cramping the majority blacks on poor, sandy
soils.

GAPWUZ is negotiating for a basic wage of between $15000 and $16
000 per month.

"How can the land reform programme be a success when
the workers who are involved in its success are languishing in poverty? Our
demands are not even anywhere near the Poverty Datum Line (PDL) or half of
it. We can not have a blanket increment when prices are constantly rising,"
Hambira said.

The PDL currently stands at $175 000 for a family of six
while the inflation rate rose to 1 070 percent in October.

"The
government recently revised the allowances and salaries of civil servants
and domestic workers respectively, who are non-productive employees as
compared to farm workers," said Hambira.

Agriculture is the mainstay of
the Zimbabwean economy, contributing about 18.5 percent to the Gross
Domestic Product. It provides more than 60 percent of the raw materials
required for the manufacturing sector.

However, most farm workers are
living in abject poverty, which has forced a significant number of them into
other enterprises such as the flourishing gold panning trade.

Air Zim Board Sinks Into Turbulence

ANOTHER
board and management shake-up looms at Air Zimbabwe following last week's
embarrassing flight cancellations.

Jobs on the line over
London

Air Zimbabwe cancelled all its three scheduled flights to London
because of fears that one of its long serving and wide-bodied aircraft could
be seized because of an unpaid debt owed to the Agency for the Safety of Air
Navigation in Africa and Madagascar (ASCECNA).

The agency is in
charge of air space encompassing Air Zimbabwe's international routes. In
2004, ASCECNA won a court order authorising it to impound the airline's
aircraft for non-payment of a US$2.8 million debt. After numerous fruitless
efforts to get Air Zimbabwe to settle the debt, ASCECNA was ready to take
the last resort.

The airline's parent ministry, headed by acting Minister
of Transport and Communications Francis Nhema, scrambled to solicit funds to
settle the long-standing debt at the eleventh hour. But senior government
and Air Zimbabwe officials told The Financial Gazette this week that
officials in the Ministry of Transport and Communications could soon move to
restructure the board, a move which could be extended to a management shake
up. They said the botch-up in flight schedules could give additional
ammunition to Transport and Communication Minister Chris Mushowe who is
reported to have vetoed the appointment of Oscar Madombwe as the substantive
head of Air Zimbabwe against the recommendations of the national airline's
board, chaired by Mike Bimha.

Bimha's board was appointed in July
last year.

"The Minister wants to put a new board in place and they are
not agreeing on a new CEO. So this mess-up just builds up on his intent,"
said the sources.

...as parts crisis emerges

THE country's
financially troubled airline, Air Zimbabwe, is battling to raise US$900 000
to purchase thrust reversals--used by jet aircraft to assist the braking
process and reduce wear--for one of its wide-bodied planes.

Reliable
sources at the national airline told The Financial Gazette that Air Zimbabwe
had been battling in vain to secure the foreign currency needed for the
purchase of the deployable metal levers used to divert engine
exhaust.

"They (thrust reversals) are overdue for overhaul. We had agreed
on a service exchange where the suppliers would give us theirs and we would
give them ours later. But they have failed to secure foreign currency," the
sources said.

Thrust reversers are used by many jet aircraft to
hasten slow down after touch-down, thus reducing wear on the brakes and
enabling the aircraft to use shorter runways.

Despite posing a safety
threat to passengers, the sources said the national airline's quality
assurance department and the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) had
given Air Zimbabwe the authority to continue flying.

The thrust reversals
are required for one of Air Zimbabwe's Boeing 767s, which services the
London, Dubai and Singapore routes.

Air Zimbabwe has in recent years
struggled to secure hard currency to pay for the purchase of replacement
parts for its fleet.

Nepad Fails to Make a Dent On Crises

There was not much
fanfare when the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), marked
its fifth anniversary last month.

This low-key approach was perhaps
justified because the initiative has nothing substantial to show for its
existence over the last five years and is in danger of becoming one more
ego-inflating talk shop for African leaders. It is unlikely to make any
difference to the lives of the continent's impoverished people in the
foreseeable future.

A number of commemorative events to mark the fifth
anniversary were held in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. These included a
multi-stakeholder dialogue which was held prior to the Heads of State and
Government Implementation Committee summit. The top-level dialogue gave
stakeholders from civil society, the private sector and continental and
international institutions the opportunity to review progress made so far .
The marginalisation and underdevelopment of Africa and escalating poverty
among its people were some of the topics on the agenda.

In a speech
to mark the launch of Newsdesk: Business Africa, which is designed to help
Africa raise its voice on the world stage, NEPAD chief executive officer,
Professor Firmino said, "NEPAD provides a framework for African renewal, in
order to drive socioeconomic development and enable our continent to
participate actively in the world economy and body politic. It rests on
African determination to provide a way for Africans to help themselves."
Some observers, however, believe that these high-sounding ideals are
meaningless unless the benefits of NEPAD can filter down to ordinary
Africans. This can only happen if peace, security, observance of human
rights and the rule of law prevail in member countries to facilitate
sustainable development and that way reduce poverty.

NEPAD's Peer
Review Mechanism, which is supposed to promote good governance and
observance of human rights, is doomed to remain as ineffective as such
organs of the African Union as the African Commission on Human and Peoples'
Rights (ACHPR) which have failed to get round the egos and pride of leaders
to fulfill their mandates.

The Peer Review Mechanism, designed to be
conducted every three to five years, is supposed to be a vehicle for African
countries to benchmark their economic and political performance . The
process is however, anathema to some leaders because it calls for free
discussion of governance issues and they regard this as a threat to their
authoritarian regimes. It is difficult to see how such regimes which are
already bent on the total crushing of dissent by clamping down on opposition
parties and civil society groups can honour this requirement.

The
example of events in Zimbabwe over the last few years probably best
illustrates the futility of setting up more organs when existing ones have
proved impotent. Since about 2000, various events in Zimbabwe have caused
outcries over which either the African Union or NEPAD should have
intervened. These have pertained to disputed election outcomes after alleged
rigging, state-sanctioned violence against opponents, repressive media and
other laws, alleged human rights abuses, the displacement of large numbers
of people under Operation Murambatsvina, etc.

Numerous attempts by
representatives of civil society in Zimbabwe to have some of these issues
deliberated on by relevant continental or international organs have failed
repeatedly. The government has, by hook or crook, ensured the forestalling
of the scrutiny of its role and actions in these disputes and alleged
violations of its own constitution and international law. The government has
consistently cited Zimbabwe's sovereignty and territorial integrity as
justification for its intransigence. Situations such as the conflict in the
Darfur region of western Sudan and the dispute over Cote d'Ivoire's Laurent
Gbagbo, show how African leaders can ignore pressure exerted even by the
African Union and dig in their heels. The question is, can NEPAD succeed
where other continental organs, the United Nations and other world bodies
have failed?

It is ironic that it is the situation in Zimbabwe that has
caused the most serious doubts in some quarters about the prospect of NEPAD
having any appreciable impact on governance issues. The South African
President, Thabo Mbeki, the main architect of NEPAD and therefore its human
face, lost credibility as a crusader for democratic governance when he
adopted the widely discredited "quiet diplomacy" approach with respect to
the Zimbabwean crisis.

Mbeki's dithering and reluctance to speak out
on the crisis when he was the official troubleshooter, was the more
appalling because of the lame excuses he gave for his reticence, which was
widely interpreted as complicity with President Mugabe's administration. The
South African president claimed that he was powerless to confront his
northern neighbour because "Mugabe will tell me off" - or words to that
effect. In the end, he threw in the towel and washed his hands off the
Zimbabwean problem.

"For Africans to be able to resolve the problems of
peace and security and good governance, they must be able to peer review
themselves", a NEPAD official, Isaac Aluko-Olokun has said. But if the
lacklustre performance and lack of conviction of the prime mover of Africa's
Renaissance so far is anything to go by, NEPAD is unlikely to make any
impact in the next five years.

Yet Another Land Audit

Financial Gazette (Harare)

November 15,
2006Posted to the web November 16, 2006

Kumbirai
MafundaHarare

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's government, under intense
pressure to lend credibility to its anti-corruption drive, says an audit
into the take-up and utilisation of land under its controversial land reform
programme will be completed by the end of this month.

In 2004 the
government admitted that only 44 percent of the land allocated under the
controversial agrarian reforms was under productive use.

State Security,
Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement Minister Didymus Mutasa told The
Financial Gazette this week that the audit, which was embarked on just after
his appointment in 2005, had already been completed in Manicaland,
Mashonaland West, Matabeleland North, Mashonaland East and the
Midlands.

"We are looking at the take-up of A2 farms, their
utilisation and where there are disputes on boundaries. Plot take-up under
the A2 model is between 80 and 89 percent . . . The audit has identified men
and women who are productive," said Mutasa.

His ministry expected to
have concluded the audit by the end of this month.

"We will compile it
into one report that we will publish as soon as the government gives us the
go-ahead," said Mutasa.

He said with effect from January next year, the
ministry would conduct a similar audit on the take-up of land under the A1
farming model. The plot take-up under this model is over 90
percent.

"We will proceed to issue permits to bona fide A1 farmers," said
Mutasa.

The latest audit is one of many similar verification exercises
President Robert Mugabe has ordered since 2000. In 2003, the minister
responsible for land reform and resettlement Flora Buka, headed another land
audit team. The government never made her report public but the document,
which was leaked to the local and international media, contained disturbing
revelations.

A follow-up land audit by a commission led by Charles Utete,
a former secretary to the president and cabinet, exposed the existence of
"swathes of productive land lying idle".

During his tenure as Special
Affairs, Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement Minister John Nkomo, who is now
the Speaker of Parliament and the ruling party's national chairman, also
headed a presidential inquiry into serious irregularities pertaining to land
reform.

Although the government intended to resettle more than a million
people on not less than 11 million hectares between July 2000 and December
2001, it has only gazetted 6 517 farms measuring over 10 million hectares
when President Mugabe gave the nod to the land grab exercise. Since then,
140 698 A1 farmers have been resettled on 2 740 farms while 14 856
large-scale farmers have been resettled on 2 280 farms.

Critics are
sceptical that the contents of this latest and eagerly-awaited audit will
see the light of day in view of the numerous earlier audit reports that have
gathered dust in government offices.

Reports say the land reform
programme is riddled with double allocations as both the Agriculture
Ministry headed by Joseph Made and Mutasa's ministry do not have a
computerised data base on land parcelled out to beneficiaries.

Critics
allege that a majority of party 'chefs' used proxies when registering
acquired land and properties.

Despite the conducting of successive land
audits, the identities of multiple farm owners, whom President Mugabe has on
several occasions ordered to surrender the properties for redistribution to
veterans of the liberation struggle and landless peasants most of whom bore
the brunt of the liberation war, have never been made public.

Some
observers say the government's inertia over the issue could suggest that the
main culprits who have violated the government's one-man-one-farm policy are
powerful politicians.

The accelerated land redistribution programme,
which was meant to reverse the legacy of a century of colonial land
ownership imbalances, has plunged the country into a food crisis which has
only been eased by the intervention of the World Food Programme (WFP) and
other humanitarian organisations.

Hexco's Bungling Hits Polytech Students

HUNDREDS of students
at the Harare Polytechnic could not write scheduled examinations last week
after the Higher Education Examinations Council (HEXCO) failed to avail
question papers.

HEXCO'S dereliction of duty affected students in the
Polytechnic's electrical, engineering and mass communications departments,
who almost two weeks later, are still not sure when they will finally sit
for the examinations.

This is not the first time the national
tertiary education examinations board has been found wanting in this
respect, heightening fears that the public examinations system is
crumbling.

"We were supposed to sit for an electrical engineering paper
on the 6th but the paper did not come and we were told that it would be
written at 2pm but still nothing came and now we are not even sure if at all
we will write the paper," said a student in the electrical division on
Monday.

The students were scheduled to write an Electrical Division
National Diploma part two Digital Electronics paper at 9 am on Monday last
week while those doing a National Diploma in Secretarial Studies were
supposed to write a Business Economics paper at the same
time.

Students in the Mass Communications division were due to sit for a
Developing Economies paper.

"The standard of education has been
falling and now it is getting worse with the prospect of failing to write
examinations altogether fast becoming a reality. Students are struggling to
get by and the last thing they need is this situation where their stay at
the college is prolonged while they are not getting anything to eat," said
Tawanda Gumbie, president of the Harare Polytechnic Students Executive
Council.

"From what I know students are writing
their exams but I have to find out if there are any of them who failed to
write. The best office to call is that of the principal or the examinations
board, I can't really communicate to you the official position because it
comes through the principal's office," said Mudondo.

Officials from
HEXCO's Standards and Quality Control department were not available for
comment.

Examinations administered by HEXCO have in the past been
characterised by confusion resulting from delays and
mix-ups.

Allegations of rampant leaking of test papers before
examinations have also persisted.

Earlier this year business studies
students at Harare Polytechnic waited until 8pm to write a paper that was
scheduled to have been written at 2 pm.

Chombo Caught On Tape

Financial Gazette (Harare)

November 15,
2006Posted to the web November 16, 2006

Chris Muronzi Staff
ReporterHarare

FRESH evidence implicating Local Government and Public
Works Minister Ignatius Chombo in the bribes-for-buses scandal that has
rocked the state-owned Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) over the
past year has surfaced amid reports that the Attorney General's office and
the police are looking into the possibility of prosecuting the senior
politician.

The new sensational evidence is in the form of a taped
telephone conversation between Chombo and businessman Jayesh Shah in which
Chombo is heard apparently asking for a US$68 000 bribe from the
businessman, who has been at the centre of the corruption saga at
ZUPCO.

In the recording, a copy of which was lodged with the AG's office
and the police -- which The Financial Gazette obtained this week -- Chombo
appears to demand US$1 000 for every bus supplied to ZUPCO. The bus company
was to procure 68 buses -- 49 conventional coaches and 19 minibuses -- from
Shah.

This recording opens yet another intriguing chapter in the scandals
that have rocked ZUPCO over the past year, particularly with respect to
deals between the company and Shah. A politically well connected businessman
and regular donor to the ruling party, Shah has frequently courted
controversy. He was once at the centre of a storm when he riled competitors
by importing buses already painted in ZUPCO colours in an apparent flaunting
of confidence that the tender would be tailor-made for his
company.

Below is a verbatim reproduction of what is heard on the tape:
(the gaps represent sections of the recording where what is said is
inaudible or garbled):

Shah: "No, first time how much do you want to
add on top? Just add it. Because I do not want . . . one thing is that last
time I was squeezed on the . . . very well. So it went . . . So last time I
tried to talk to you and you know . . .

Chombo: "Just one will . .
.

Shah: "Sorry?"

Chombo: "One."

Shah: "1 000? So I can put
1000 on this . . .

Chombo:"Yah.

Shah: "No, I will squeeze it from
my pocket.

Chombo: "Okay, just one?

Shah: Yah

Chombo: ". .
. me one and . . . and you know, because if we . . . we can get

Further
in the conversation, Chombo is heard apparently saying: "so let us . . . We
will . . . one per big bus, this . . . and one for the small bus" To which
Shah says, "it is fair."

Chombo concurs, saying "I think it's fair, . . .
I am not a greedy person" to which Shah says "I had kept two on the previous
one but unfortunately . . . it got mixed up" after interjecting
Chombo.

Shah: "Because,
you know, what I really felt was like, I don't know you are dealing with . .
. . but the way he was talking, the way he was talking, you know . . . .
"

Chombo: "No it is . . . ."

Shah: " . . . . and he took off his
money."

Chombo: " You are talking to . . . . and also benefited from them
in any way . . . ."

Shah: " you see, this is what I am saying, you
need to now look at the two options that are here, Simon . . . . . and Shah,
Simon . . . . buses, look at the measurement of it. I only did 55 but can
you really point a finger at anybody . . . . clean clear, above
board."

In a later conversation Shah says " but Minister anything, let us
a clear . . . . The opportunity is we have known each other but the thing is
opportunities were not there" while Chombo agrees saying "Oh,
Yah."

Later in the conversation Shah is heard saying, "now, opportunities
are there. It is, we need to . . . ." to which Chombo says " No, I think we
are clear, on the 40, one on the 96, one and then if we can get an increase
on the others that are coming"

In the same dialogue Shah says, "Yes,
others that are coming, but I told them to prepare 60 buses"

Chombo
says "yes, go ahead, I know, you were not going to . . . . Actually we don't
want only 150 buses, we want further 150 buses."

It is not clear however
if Chombo received the money and how much it was but ZUPCO went on to float
a special tender which resulted in Gift Investments supplying 69 buses -- 24
minibuses and 45 conventional buses.

Chombo was not available to comment
yesterday.

The ZUPCO bribes-for-buses saga erupted two years ago
after Shah fell out with former chairman at the parastatal's board, Charles
Nherera. The scandal led to the arrest, sensational trial and jailing of
Nherera for three years after a Harare magistrate convicted him of
corruption.

Former ZUPCO chief executive, who is now deputy Information
Minister, Bright Matonga, Nherera as well as Chombo, have been implicated in
the scam by Shah's production of recordings of conversations with all three
officials. Shah has been granted immunity from prosecution by the Attorney
General's office. Nherera and Matonga, who are jointly charged in a separate
case from the one for which Nherera is already serving a sentence, have
claimed that the recordings were doctored in order to implicate them. Police
are investigating Chombo's role in the saga.

The minister was a state
witness during the Nherera trial, but the magistrate questioned the
credibility of his testimony, saying the police should probe deeper into the
scandal.

We Told You So

Financial Gazette (Harare)

EDITORIALNovember
15, 2006Posted to the web November 16, 2006

Harare

WE hate to
say we told you so. But we did. In our editorial comment of September 21,
2006 we commended, though with reservation, the announcement by the Reserve
Bank of Zimabbwe (RBZ) of a US$490 million agricultural support
facility.

While we admitted that under normal circumstances the package
deal put together with the help of local and regional financial
institutions, agriculture, which has been comatose for some time, could
tip-toe back to recovery, we warned that we did not have high hopes for it
for as long as Joseph Made remained the Minister of Agriculture.

Our
scepticism was not without reason. There has been a series of inexcusable
blunders over the past six years that has seen the key agricultural sector
slipping on too many banana skins, leaving the country's food security
situation dangerously precarious. This has left many in no doubt that the
successive failed crop harvests that have seen Zimbabwe being reduced to a
perennial grain deficit country alongside Lesotho, Swaziland and Malawi
were, contrary to government claims, in the main due to human error. The
recurring biting shortages of critical inputs, among others, all of which
have left many wondering as to when enough would be enough before heads
start rolling, are a case in point.

We had a strong sense of deja vu.
Having seen agriculture lurch from one crisis to another under the
stewardship of Made, we were convinced that, even with those resources at
its disposal, the Ministry of Agriculture, under him was incapable of
returning production in the sector to its pre-crisis levels. The ineptitude
of those running the country's agriculture led by Made is legendary. They
couldn't organise a beer party in a brewery. Thus we chose to err on the
side of caution.

It is no secret that Made, whose tenure of office as
Minister of Agriculture has seen the production of almost every agricultural
commodity hitting an all-time low, has slept on the job. Which is why famine
and hunger have stalked Zimbabwe for the past six years. That is why we
categorically stated then that a typical square peg in a round hole, Made
has proved that no one in Zimbabwe ever knew so much that was so little to
the purpose. And unless he was sacked, we said, availing the US$490 million
would be an exercise in futility.

And here we are: another stinking
fertiliser scandal at Made's ever-bungling ministry. The ministry
sanctioned, through Made's lieutenants, Permanent Secretary Simon
Pazvakavambwa and GMB chief executive officer Samuel Muvuti, the importation
of 70 000 tonnes of fertiliser from South Africa, 800 tonnes of which are
useless. The questionable importation of the inferior fertiliser has already
played out into the public domain. And we have already had a taste of the
finger-pointing that can be expected as the scandal heats up, indicating
that there could be more to the scandal than meets the eye.

Typical
of the ruling ZANU PF government's culture of scapegoating, instead of
taking full responsibility for the mess, explaining how it happened and the
steps being taken to rectify the situation, those involved have chosen to
engage in unhelpful semantic arguments. Some would say this is why the
powers-that-be should, in addition to closely questioning those that were
involved in the deal, subpoena all the documents relating to the deal as
they try to ferret out details of what actually happened.

But given
the evidence of the letters written by Pazvakavambwa to the GMB and by the
Rand Merchant Bank to the RBZ about Muvuti's acceptance of the fertiliser
consigment, the shortest route to settling this case would be to fire
Pazvakavambwa and Muvuti immediately. They do not have a conscience to
bother them enough to take a jump before being pushed. And giving them the
sack for this unacceptable scandalous waste of US$300 000 of public money is
the best option no matter how politically sticky it might seem within ZANU
PF. True, one swallow does not make a summer and sacking the two could, in
the eyes of sympathisers, be too harsh. But we see the fertiliser debacle as
the thin end of the wedge, which should be nipped in the bud. Of course Made
should also be in the firing line. If not for his past costly failures then
for the fact that a fish rots from the head. But most importantly because
the buck stops with Made and he should own up.

Murambatsvina Refuses to Be Swept Under the Carpet

Financial Gazette
(Harare)

COLUMNNovember 15, 2006Posted to the web November 16,
2006

Mavis MakuniHarare

THE insensitivity and aimless
perversity of Operation Murambatsvina, during which the government embarked
on an unprecedented demolition spree in Harare and other urban centres,
rendering about one million people homeless and depriving a further two
million of means to earn a livelihood, becomes more difficult to conceal and
justify with each passing day.

Despite its best efforts, the government
has failed to pull the wool over any sensible person's eyes about its real
motives for embarking on the controversial exercise which has been roundly
condemned both at home and internationally. The matter cannot be wished away
or swept under the carpet because it has impacted inestimably on the lives
of flesh and blood humans who cannot be regarded as mere statistics that can
be filed away and forgotten. The plight of the millions displaced by the
exercise must remain in the public domain and consciousness.

From the
outset, United Nations Special Envoy, Anna Tibaijuka, who was deployed to
Zimbabwe by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan at the height of the tumult,
declared the initiative cruel and insensitive and possibly illegal under
international law. The government of Zimbabwe however thought it could dupe
every one by announcing the charade of embarking on Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle through which it was supposed to provide decent
housing for the hundreds of thousands it had rendered homeless and
destitute.

The government has failed dismally to deliver on its
promises and it can no longer decree that this lack of success is a
perception confined to what it deceives itself are prophets of doom or
agents of foreign interests.

Last week a parliamentary portfolio
committee chaired by ZANU PF Mazowe legislator, Margaret Zinyemba, tabled a
report in Parliament confirming what observers and the people traumatised by
the government's actions have been saying all along.

The report said
the government had failed the victims of its illogical and
spur-of-the-moment operation by not honouring its pledges to cater for them.
The government, which initially announced that it would finance the project
to the tune of $3 trillion, now regularly harangues the private sector to
step into its shoes to tackle a problem it deliberately created on a
whim.

Said the portfolio committee: "In terms of project implementation,
no significant progress was made as funds provided were too little for any
meaningful development to take place." Zinyemba told Parliament the
secretary for local government and urban development had admitted the lack
of progress on building sites.

The bottom line here is that millions
of innocent Zimbabweans have been dealt a cruel blow by their government.
First, they were targeted for no apparent rational or valid reason as it
turned out later that Operation Murambatsvina was undertaken because of the
government's paranoid fear of an uprising.

It is scandalous that
having displaced and traumatised these hard-working ordinary Zimbabweans,
the government has had no qualms about being deceitful with regard to
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle. What has slowly emerged is that the government never
intended to see the housing scheme through but only embarked on it as an act
of diversion and bravado to silence its critics. The fact that its reckless
actions affected fellow human beings has never pricked any consciences in
the corridors of power.

Instead, there has been no shortage of vehement
defenders of the madness. Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo has led
the pack in insisting that the uncalled for upheavals were an exercise to
spruce up urban areas and rid them of criminal elements. State Security
Minister Didymus Mutasa went ballistic in June last year in response the
disquiet expressed about the vindictive manner in which the exercise had
been undertaken.

"We are strongly united in our efforts to make Zimbabwe
a clean and safe environment," he said, insisting that the decision to
demolish abodes and other structures deemed to be illegal was taken
unanimously by cabinet. For good measure, he castigated independent
newspapers for "always making noises about the rule of law and when we use
the law you make unnecessary noises."

Neither Mutasa nor anyone else in
government has ever identified which law obliged the government to degrade
and dehumanise its own people by treating them like animals to be herded
into the open to fend for themselves. The "people's government" has
exacerbated the plight of its victims by preventing well-wishers from coming
to their rescue.

The government has fought tooth and nail on the
continental and international scenes to forestall scrutiny of its cruel and
vindictive actions on the pretext that as a sovereign state it had the right
to behave as it did to afford its people decent housing.

What does
the government have to say now that the "decent" accommodation sprouting
everywhere in the aftermath of Murambatsvina is in the form of even more
plastic shacks than before. Even those who had solid brick and mortar houses
are now reduced to living in flimsy shacks. Does the government regard this
as progress? It apparently does not give a damn because despite this
gruelling evidence of human suffering, government officials continue to
breathe fire and brimstone against anyone who feels compassion and empathy
for the victims of Operation Murambatsvina.

Only in September Chombo
launched into a tirade against international human rights watchdog, Amnesty
International after it had expressed concern that only 3 000 housing units
had been built under Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle. Chombo glibly claimed that
negative perceptions about the operation were proof of a plot to tarnish
Zimbabwe's image. What image, my foot!

But now that a parliamentary
portfolio committee has reached the same conclusion, can Chombo and company
say it has been bought by the British and Americans too? I say to hell with
sovereignty and Zimbabwe's image if these concepts are to be evoked to
prolong the suffering of fellow human beings. Government officials have
proved themselves to be so deceitful and insensitive that they no longer
deserve to be holding their positions. They can only afford to continue to
strut around with impunity because of the prevailing tyranny.

Change Your Course!

Financial Gazette (Harare)

COLUMNNovember
15, 2006Posted to the web November 16, 2006

Gondo
GushungoHarare

A STORY is told by former US undersecretary for
international affairs, Lawrence H Summers about the US navy which, in my
view captures the way the Zimbabwean government in particular seems to feel
about confronting political and economic realities. Be they people's wishes
for a new constitution or the need for a shift to market forces in the
management of the economy, the ruling ZANU PF government, wary of such
change probably because it challenges the status quo, is always digging in
its heels.

According to Summers, a US Navy fleet was sailing in the
Pacific when a blip appeared on the fleet's radar screen. The destroyer's
captain sent the message: "We are on a collision course, change your
course". "No, you change your course," came back the reply that seemed to
irritate the captain. The increasingly agitated captain shot back: "This is
the US Navy's fleet. We are on a collision course. Change your course".
Again the reply came: "Change your course." The admiral of the US Navy fleet
had had enough. Patently bent out of shape and probably frothing at the
mouth, he sent the message: "This is the most powerful sailing force ever
assembled. We are on a collision course. Change your course". Then came the
reply: "Change your course. This is a lighthouse".

The moral of this
story is that some forces and ideas whose time has come are inevitable. And
for the Zimbabwean government, desperate to stitch together the fragile
fabric of a frayed society, such realities are:

lFirst, the need for a
new constitution. Of course this is a contentious issue, a hot button
political issue, if you will. But it is a fact that there has been a chorus
from civic society and opposition political parties which represent a
significant portion of the country's population for a new people-centred
constitution that facilitates a strong but democratic system of government
and explicitly defines and precludes all authoritarian traits and
tendencies.

The deafening calls for a new constitution can only mean one
thing: Zimbabweans yearn for a new constitution that ensures further
democratisation and expansion of political pluralism. Presently, with the
absence of basic freedoms and rights, they are straining at the leash. Thus
they want to be rid of everything that should have been swept away with the
rubble of Rhodesia's minority white supremacist regime. If the government
has nothing to fear, it should take the issue up the flagpole and see what
the people have to say about it.

lSecondly, there is the inexorably
rising pressure on the government to move towards competitive market forces
in the management of the economy where the government has been comfortable
with piece-meal policy implementation -- a half way house between a market
economy and rigid state control. Issues for discussion under this are too
numerous to mention. But I will just pick two. That would be the need to
change course towards privatisation of government-owned companies and a move
towards a more realistic exchange rate.

As far as devaluation is
concerned, government has been reluctant to take the plunge. Instead it has
always favoured a fixed exchange rate regime, which has created a lot of
problems for Zimbabwe. To the extent that any talk of devaluation, which is
the best route to go given Zimbabwe's circumstances, has become
sacrilegious. It has assumed weighty political and nationalistic
connotations. The proponents of devaluation who listen to the voice of
reason and reckon the influence of realities have been labelled economic
saboteurs. Indeed, some who were previously considered rising stars on the
political firmament have had their political careers cut short or put on
hold at the slightest mention of devaluation.

Much as I cannot stick my
neck out and say that there is a direct link between the choice of exchange
rate and macroeconomic performance, it is indisputable that among other
things, a fixed exchange rate increases protectionist pressure, distorts
price signals in the economy and prevents the efficient allocation of
resources. International monetarists have gone in so far as saying that it
is possible for inflationary pressures to build up -- but be held in check
-- during a period of pegged exchange rates and then explode into the open
when a float is adopted. Thus high inflation would be blamed on the floating
regime though it should more properly be attributed to the fixed exchange
rate. Yet the government continues to do things pretty much the same way --
the fixed exchange rate route -- and expect a change.

The situation
is much the same as regards privatisation. The government is not moving an
inch, even with evidence of positive improvements from the before-and-after
comparisons of companies that have undergone privatisation
elsewhere.

After the ill-conceived stop-go public asset disposal
programme, the government, which does not have the capacity to manage public
enterprises, in what can only be described as sheer waste of public
resources, poured $12 billion into these bottomless black holes last year in
a futile attempt to restore viability in the monoliths.

But someone
who understands what needs to be done when a company gets into operational
inefficiencies once said that you cannot bail out a boat with a big hole
because it will never sail. And how so true! The public funds so doled out
by the government failed to staunch the never-ending bleeding. And just like
before, the government-owned companies continue to operate below the red-ink
line and remain a major impediment to economic growth.

Yet all it could
have taken to deal with the foregoing issues is a conscious effort, a
conscious strategy because it would just have been a matter of comparisons
among options. This makes Zimbabwe's sad story that of choice and
consequence, which could have been different if only the government had
changed its course.

IMF Executive Board To Reconsider Zimbabwe's Status In February

Zimbabwe's status as an International Monetary Fund member
nation will be taken up again by the IMF Executive Board in February,
official sources said Thursday.

IMF spokeswomen Gita Bhatt confirmed
the Board will meet in early February.

On the table will be the question
of restoring Harare's voting rights and its right to tap IMF funding. Harare
has cleared debt arrears to the IMF General Resource Account, but other
arrears totaling some US$119 million remain under the Poverty Reduction and
Growth Facility-Exogenous Shocks Facility.

The board's decision will
be informed by a report from the Article IV mission expected in Harare next
month for an economic policy review. The IMF wants Harare to change policies
- in particular curbing public spending - to reverse the process that has
driven inflation to 1,070% in October amidst continued contraction of
output.

Sources in the Ministry of Economic Development said another
emergency economic plan is in the works and will be launched in January. The
current National Economic Development Priority Program, which ends next
month, failed to achieve objectives including bringing inflation under
control and stabilizing the Zimbabwe dollar.

Two previous recovery
blueprints - the Millennium Economic Recovery Plan of 2000 and the National
Economic Revival Programme of 2003 - also failed to deliver.

The new
plan will be in place before the IMF Board meets, but economist James Jowa
of Harare said it was unlikely to make much difference to the country's IMF
status.

Women March Through Harare Demanding Expanded Public Role

Dozens of women marched in the Zimbabwean
capital of Harare Thursday to demand equal representation in public offices,
but the launch of the so-called 50-50 Campaign by the Women in Politics
Support Unit was poorly attended by the political
class.

Correspondent Thomas Chiripasi reported on the march through
central Harare.

Political parties were unevenly represented at Thursday's
march. Though two senior members of the Movement for Democratic Change
faction led by Arthur Mutambara lent their support, there was just one
representative of the MDC faction of Morgan Tsvangirai, and the ruling
ZANU-PF party was a complete no-show.

A spokespersonfor the Women in
Politics Support Unit said women from all political parties were invited as
gender discrimination varies little by political affiliation.

Lucia
Matibenga, who chairs the women's league of the Tsvangirai MDC faction, told
reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that she did not
attend the event because she did not receive an invitation. But she said
that the event was important because women are constantly sidelined when
decisions are made.

Studio 7 placed a call to Women's Affairs Minister
Oppah Muchinguri, who is the ruling party's secretary for gender and
culture, but she declined to comment..

Heavy Rains Dampen Zimbabwe Hopes For Overdue Wheat Harvest

VOA

By Jonga
Kandemiiri Washington 16 November 2006

Some
farmers and agricultural officials may be pleased to see the heavy rains now
falling across Zimbabwe, but others are concerned that the downpour could
mean an even bigger shortfall than feared in the lagging winter wheat
crop.

Authorities had projected a harvest of 220,000 tonnes, but the
Grain Marketing Board, a state monopoly, said it has taken delivery from
farmers of only 60,000 tonnes.

A GMB official said the rains will not
do much damage to the standing wheat crops, as farmers can still harvest
when they stop and the wheat dries out.

Many farmers have failed to
harvest all their wheat due to fuel shortages and the cost of hiring combine
harvesters. One farmer said the Agricultural and Rural Development
Authority, or ARDA, charges $55,000 (US$220) a hectare to harvest while
commercial harvesters charge $95,000 ($380) per hectare for the same
service.

Agronomist Renson Gasela, agriculture spokesman for the Movement
for Democratic Change faction led by Arthur Mutambara, told reporter Jonga
Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the main problem is a
shortage of harvesters.